Professors from Purdue
University and the University of North Carolina
at Charlotte
are bringing editors of academic journals together to reaffirm their commitment
to research integrity.
Journal editors are being asked to sign the Journal Editor
Ethics Code, which includes guidelines to promote data transparency when
reporting research findings, communicating ethical standards to its audiences
and authors, keeping the financial aspects of the journal separate from the
peer-review process, and refraining from coercive citation practices. For
example, a report published earlier this year in Science found that some journals were encouraging authors to add
citations to articles that were not needed but could help improve a journal’s
impact factor.
“Most authors, reviewers and editors are following
ethical practices and do exemplary work, but recent research has revealed that
some unethical practices, such as coercive citations, do happen,” said
Deborah Rupp, the William C. Bynam Chair in Industrial/Organizational
Psychology at Purdue. “The Journal Editor Ethics Code builds on the
ethical standards already in place within various professional associations,
publishing groups and journals.”
Rupp is coleading this effort with Steven Rogelberg,
professor and director of organizational science at the University
of North Carolina at Charlotte.
“As a journal editor community we need to take a
strong public stance about our ethics around publishing,” he said.
“Our science depends on editors acting with great integrity and not
engaging in practices that directly or indirectly promote corruption of the
scholarly process. We are pleased with people’s interest and commitment to
support research integrity by affirming the code.”
So far, 165 editors and associate editors have signed up
to show their support for the Journal Editor Ethics Code. The code and a list
of editors who affirm they will its guidelines are available at http://editorethics.uncc.edu
Rupp and Rogelberg began by contacting editors in their
fields of management and psychology, but interest has expanded to other fields
such as anthropology and sociology.
Source: Purdue University
